I am writing with reference to "Fundamentalism, extremism and Islam" by Md. Anwarul Karim (July 7). Mr. Anwarul Karim writes about Islam-phobia in the West. But this does not explain why Muslims are slaughtering fellow Muslims in their own countries.

As Pakistani journalist Khaled Ahmed recently wrote in Lahore's Daily Times: "In Sudan and Somalia, Muslims are killing Muslims. Muslim states have been warring with Muslims states, doing far more damage than any non-Muslim could have done." Why are Sunni extremists murdering fellow Shiite Muslims in the name of fighting the coalition forces? It seems that Muslim extremists have found an easy way to stir up anti-Western feelings among the Muslims: first murder many Muslims in their own countries and then blame it to the West. In July 2005, a group of British Muslims bombed London's mass transit system, killing 52 and injuring many more. The terrorists claimed that they were retaliating against the killing of Iraqi Muslims by the coalition forces. "Until you stop bombing, gassing and torturing my people, we will not stop fighting," vowed one bomber in a pre-recorded video statement.

But no one told the bombers that it is the Sunni insurgents who are bombing fellow Shiite Muslims in Iraq, killing and torturing scores of them and the only person responsible for gassing Iraqi Muslims is Saddam Hussein, who used poison gas against the Kurdish Muslims. And Saddam's murder of fellow Muslims had been going on long before the American-led invasion of Iraq.

It is pointless to talk about Islam-phobia in the West when Muslims are systematically murdering the fellow Muslims in such Muslim countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.